I YELLED AND BEFORE I HAD THE CHANCE TO TURN AROUND AND DEFEND MYSELF...

Querido familia y amigos,

¡Hola Nuevamente! Well, this last week was definitely an interesting one but it was really good. Last Monday after emailing, we went with some jovenes to the city of Pucón to spend p-day. When I asked my comp where it 

was he said he didn’t know but that it was a big tourist spot and the jovenes wanted to go there. About an hour into the bus ride we passed the city of Villarica and realized "Chuta!(dang) we are not even in the mission boundaries anymore! This is the Osorno Mission!" But there was nothing we could do about it at that point. So don´t tell President Swenson hahaha. Anyways, Pucón is just right on the other side of Lake Villarica. It’s this little town, that reminds me of Lake Arrowhead or something. It is right on the lake with a beautiful view of the snow-covered, smoky Volcan Villarica in the background, and pine tree forests everywhere. Don’t worry, I took pictures :). It was a fun trip but for now on I´m going to make sure I know exactly where we are going for p-day so we don’t end up in Argentina or something hahaha. Today, after emailing, us and the zone leaders are heading up to Temuco because apparently they have a Pizza Hut there!!! Que bacán!!!! (sweet!!!) So I´m excited and it is in our mission boundaries :).

Anyways, continuing with the week, at the weekly meeting on Tuesday we found out that as far as numbers go, our zone is lagging in the mission so we set some pretty high goals and worked our behinds off all week. Tuesday was awesome. We were making contacts left and right and like ten people told us that they were coming for sure to general conference and a few even told us they wanted to get baptized. I even started a few of the contacts even though I still can’t get very far without my companion jumping in.I´m working on it though. I just really felt like a missionary that day talking to everyone in the street and helping old people and such with groceries while inviting them to come to church. It was awesome.

But Tuesday night I got really sick and was up all night with the flu :( It was rough for many reasons, most of which are too graphic to say in this email hahaha. Then we were out for half of Wednesday too because I couldn’t get out of bed! Even though I wasn’t feeling much better after "lunch" (i obviously didn’t eat) I still just dragged myself out the door and we worked the rest of the day. Man it was hard trekking around all of Pitruf that day but I survived and was glad that I went out even though it wasn’t a very successful day. But I started feeling better and better each day after that and I´m fine now. Still have that stupid cough but even that’s starting to get better now.

General Conference was awesome!!! I was so excited all week for it; I know what you mean Dad. It’s the same for me too. I didn’t truly appreciate the chance to listen to our prophet and church leaders until being out here. Even better was that all us gringos got to watch it downstairs from the chapel with a little t.v. in English!!! It was great. Especially when they announced the Concepción Temple. Everybody got up and started screaming and hugging each other and we could hear all the members and latino missionaries upstairs doing the same. It was so awesome! The spirit was so strong and powerful in the room, some people were even crying. These missionaries, like my companion, have been working their whole missions for this temple and it was a big pay day, so-to-speak, for them. And now I get to continue the work to baptize strong members that will be worthy to go to the temple and pay their tithing so that this thing can be built. I won't physically be at the construction site with hard hat and hammer but I will be building it so to speak with the work and I´m overjoyed and honored to be a part of that, to help build this temple. Hopefully the work will be able to take off now and the members will be even more animated about helping us out and sharing the gospel with their friends.

The announcement set a great tone for the rest of conference, I felt like some of the apostles were almost talking directly to me during their discursos (talks). It was great how much of what they were saying I could apply to me to become a better missionary; I took so many notes hahaha. All the sessions were great and every one felt like it ended too soon. One of my favorite discourses wasm President Uchtdorf´s in priesthood meeting, about getting through trials in life through work and learning. Everything he said and all of his stories really hit me and got me more excited to get out and work. All the talks were just awesome. One of the Seventies who spoke, Elder Zeballos, was the mission president here before Swenson so everyone was really stoked to hear him. It was just a great conference and a needed spiritual surge for me to build my testimony of the gospel and my animo (excitement) for this work. A few of our investigators even came to some sessions; I think we had a total of three. It was kind of disappointing since like 20 said they would come but hey, we improved on last week, so that’s good. And we have a set date for Jonathan to be baptized. He wants to be baptized in the river that runs on the edge of Pitrufquén because he wants to be baptized like Christ was, in a river. He´s a great kid we just have to keep him excited for it and coming to church more often and I think it will go through.

Well, that’s about it for me this week. To answer some questions, no, the mamita thing fell through cuz the 
hermana was going to charge us way too much and the mission financer wouldn’t authorize it. She basically just wanted to rip us off and make money off of us, lame. But we do have consistent lunch appointments 3 times a week and we are talking to another hermana about her possibly being our mamita, so we will see. If not, we have plenty of bread and spaghetti at the house, hahaha, so no matter what, we will survive. 

 And we have some fresh cow milk cuz hermano Volti, who kind of lives on the edge of Pitruf in the campo, lets us go milk his cow and keep the milk. It was fun. I had to compete with the calf for milk while I was milking it hahaha. My only request as of right now for the package is the book I left at home, How To Survive in the Chilean Jungle. A missionary in our zone paid through the nose and went hungry to buy that book in Temuco and went into conniptions when he found out that I had it and left it at home. Next week I will have a few more things hahaha, I just need to make a list.

Oh, and a funny story I forgot to tell last week was about my first dog attack a week and a half ago. Everyone and their mother has a dog here in Pitruf and there are just as many homeless street dogs. The street dogs don’t bother you but some of the owner’s ones are nasty. So while walking down the street we passed an open gate and as we passed I heard a low growl. A few steps later, the growl turned into barking and this big black dog/monster was running after me and nipped at my leg, but fortunately he only got my pant leg. I yelled and before I had the chance to turn around and defend myself, my companion kicked it and it went running. He was laughing afterwards but now I was like traumatized for the rest of the day! He makes fun of me cuz now I´m pretty jumpy when we are passing gates. Every house has some form of a gate with barking dogs. Don’t worry though I´m more careful now and I haven’t had a close encounter since.

Well, it sounds like things are still going well at home. That’s a bummer about Bay being sick. Hopefully he will recover soon despite lacrosse and running. I laughed at Izzie´s turtle’s name. By the way, what does Tish think about the new animal in the home? Well that’s all I got for this week but as always, I love you all very much and appreciate all your emails and all the love, support, and prayers I get from you. I´m so lucky to have such great family and friends. Les amo mucho!!!!

con mucho abrazos y amor como siempre, Élder Harper :)

I DON'T KNOW WHy, BUT THE PEOPLE HERE SEEM TO LIKE ME

A comment from Mom: Riley is doing GREAT!

On a side note, where is my son? Is this really him? For those of you who know Riley well, there are parts of this letter that just make me crack up, words I thought I would never hear (or read) coming out of him, but have always hoped. Let's see how many people can pick out the part I am referring to. Missions are truly amazing!

Querido familia y amigos...

¡¡¡¡¡HOOOOLAAAA!!!!! It was great hearing from everyone especially since I didnt hear from anyone last week. Thank you so much for all the love support and encouragement that I have recieved in emails, prayers, etc. you guys are awesome! Well it sounds like the new school year is starting off well for everyone back home with high school and middleschool. Its weird that our family is out of the elementary school days. Anyways I´m really stoked to hear about all the missionary work that has been going on in our ward back home! That is absolutely awesome. Keep up the good work :) and keep them coming to church.
We have a pretty good rama (branch) here in Pitruf but it could be so much better cuz less than half of the members come! They just dont understand how important it is to come to church every week and take the santacena (sacrament). So a lot of the work we do here is permanecer (reactivation) which is going alright. All of the menos activos we visit say that they will be at church and then like two of the 10 or so families we talk to show up. But hey those two show that it's working a little bit so its all good. :) Well this week was definitely better than the last one. I´m getting over the little bit of culture shock that I had and I´m starting to kind of accept the fact that I can't speak spanish haha. Right now I´m just trying to build up my faith more that it will come and am trying to banish the doubts that I have.

I don´t know why but the people here seem to like me. I don´t understand it. I´m silent most of the time and when they ask me questions they either have to repeat it like 5 times or I have to look at my companion for help but they still like me. Maybe its cuz I´m the newbie or because I can´t talk and they find it entertaining haha. Man, spanish is hard.

As far as missionary work goes we definitely could have had a way better week. We have a ton of references from the jovenes but it seemed like the whole week we spent most of our days walking across town back and forth to knock on doors and get no answer. When we did get a hold of some it went pretty well and we even kind of have another baptismal commitment (kind of because it is complicated) and we had like 7 people to commit to come to church. But when we made our rounds before church Sunday morning all we got were excuses or family members coming out to tell us that they are sick or not home. It was kind of a bummer, especially with Jonathan. He´s the kid that set a baptismal date and came to church last week. He´s like 16 years old and a little flaite ("gangster"). But he's really capo (uhmm...a stud) and is excited about the church but is a hard guy to get a hold of and he wasn't there when we went to get him for church. So we had zero investigators in church but I´m not too worried about this next week cuz we laid some good foundations last week for it.

We just have to pick up our pace, my papi walks slow and spends way too long talking with people. We will keep working with the jovenes. So I´m optismistic for this next week. Besides it's P-day and you can't help but to be optimistic on p-day :). I´m also starting to figure out how my companion operates and does things and how things work here in the field, it´s a lot different than the M.T.C, obviously. One thing that I learned to love to do in the C.C.M. (MTC) is to plan. I know it sounds kind of crazy coming from me and all but I now feel really uncomfortable without a moderately detailed written plan for the day. And my companion is a great missionary but is not a planner, and is extremely forgetful and he would just remember things if he wrote them down! It drives me crazy! hahahaha I know it's really ironic coming from me and all but this week I´m going to make sure that we have a good written plan before leaving the house and will remind my companion to write things down throughout the day. Haha I´m getting excited talking about it 

I´m such a nerd :D. We are going to be a lot more productive with our time next week.

Ugh there is so much to talk about and so little time. One thing that is great about Pitrufquén is the jovenes. There are a lot of them and some of them are pretty lame but the ones that are good more than make up for the rest. Our ward mission leader Alex is an absolute stud. He´s 21 years old and is studying in Temuco to become a dentist but he spends a few hours with us almost every day visiting less active families, visiting and teaching references, and even just doing contacting. He likes to play pranks on me sometimes especially with telling me to say things in spanish and giving me the wrong or opposite definition for it, the little punk, but he´s really awesome. And there are like 3 other jovenes who are good for references and who will come out to visit them with us and work with us. I´m also really grateful for my trainer. He has some things about him that really bug me sometimes and he doesn´t speak nearly enough spanish with me but he´s a ´good missionary and I´m learning a lot from him. We get along really well too.

Well this place is closing up soon for lunch but I want you to know that this is an amazing work and there is no place else I´d rather be right now. Oh and by the way we found a lady in the rama to do our laundry and i think we are going to hire another hermana to do almuerzo for us everyday so don´t worry, we are eating and even occasionally cooking :). Oh and I can only email family but I want to give a shout out to those who wrote me and let you know that I will be sending some good ol fashioned snail mail your way :) I really appreciate your love, stories and encouraging words in your emails. Oh and Bay email next week you lil turd!But good job with cross country, that's awesome man keep it up and I´m glad your liking high school. Well until next week I love you all and don't be shy with emails and or snail mail!

con mucho amor abrazos grandes, Élder Harper:)

THEY CALL ME GRINGO FLAQUITO hahaha.

Here is Riley's first letter from Chile. His mission rules allow everybody to send him emails: ElderRye@myldsmail.net. However, he can only email back family. Everybody else will have to wait for a snail mail response. Querido familia y amigos ¡Hola! Well I´m sure that you have emailed me already but the lds.org website is down which means that mylds.net is down also which means that i am not able to read your emails :(. So im just sending you this from my old yahoo account. Anyways my first week here in Chile has been quite the rollercoaster ride. Its good but   I´m not going to lie my first week was tough. Anyways our flight landed in Concepción at like 930 and we were picked up by the president, his wife, and the assistants and taken to the Misión home which is pretty nice and has a gorgeous view of the city and the Bio Bio river. So we hung out there for a few hours doing orientation stuff and interviews with the president and we had our last American meal there. Then we went to the capilla (chapel) where all of us newbies bore our testimonies and then met our papis (trainers but we call them our dads). I was assigned with Élder De Leon who despite his name is a gringo. It was also at this point that I found out that our zone, Nueva Tolten, is the furthest south in the whole misión and that after my already 22 hours of traveling I had a 6 hour bus ride ahead of me. Fortunately we only went half way that night, cuz it was really late, and we stayed at a missionary home in Renaico and had once (dinner) there. We then woke up early in the morning and finished our journey to the ¨city¨ a.k.a. pueblo of Pitrufquén which is like in the center of the zone and the head quarters of the zone Nueva Tolten. We are like about halfway inbetween the the mountains and the ocean and are like a 40 minute bus ride from the southern border of the misión. We then went to the house where us and the zone leaders stay, unpacked, ate a snack, and went to work doing some street contacting, visiting members to get references, and then we went to a baptism at the capilla in the evening. Yeah I pretty much spent the whole day and week saying “como?” after everything someone said to me in spanish and hearing them laugh at my attempt at a response. They talk so fast here I can't understand pretty much anything that they say and I´m pretty sure my speaking skills have gotten worse since the M.T.C. or at least it seems like it. Even though we are on the verge of spring it is still very cold and very wet here. It rained on my second day out of the blue and it caught me without a hood or an umbrella but it hasn't rained since then. It is just very cold and very moist. In Fact our house is so damp that there are some mold spots on all the walls and ceilings and after two days all my books and papers, including the book of pictures you sent me and my scriptures :(, have been warped. I was really bummed about that at first but I bent them back kind of and am working on methods for warp prevention haha. When we entered our house for the first time I thought it was a complete dump but after being here almost a week in Pitrufquén I´ve come to realize that the house that we have here is actually pretty big and if it had some furnishings like a couch it would be nice. All the people have wood floors and stuff but compared with the U.S. these people are very poor and the houses are tiny. I am already starting to apreciate all the comforts of home that I took for granted before like 3 square meals a day haha. As of right now we don't have a mamita here so besides almuerzo appointments that we occasionally have with members we don't eat that much, but when they do feed us holy cow they feed us. They call me gringo flaquito hahaha. Speaking of food, diesyocho here was pretty fun. I´m still pretty sick but nonetheless I had a good time. Our p-day is usually Monday but since Friday was diesyocho we had p-day then instead. We watched a parade in the town square that was cool but took 3 hours since everyone and their mother was in it and then we had empanads and esado (barbecue).  We then caught the last 20 minutes of a chileno rodeo and played some fútbol in the street with the jóvenes. The jóvenes (teenagers) here in the Branch in Pitrufquén are way capo (awesome) and strong in the church. They give us references, come to lessons with us occasionally and laugh at my pathetic attempts to speak spanish and understand their spanish. The language is so frustrating but everyone tells me that it just takes time. Ugh. Its so weird too, some of the people here look really latino but some look totally white like blue eyes and light skin and hair but then they start spitting out spanish like everyone else. That will take getting used to. Anyways on diecinueve (the 19th) the district, which is kinda like a stake, put on a huge dieciocho activity at the capilla and no joke it went from nine in the morning to nine at night. It was ridiculous. We didn't stay for the entire thing but we stayed for way too long in my opinión. But that's always a problem in Chile. We stay at places too long because Chilenos just talk and talk and talk. Which is fine but it takes up a lot of our time. None of our contacts we invited showed up to the activity but miraculous one of them (Jonathan) showed up to church on Sunday. And even better he has a fecha! (baptismal date) yay! He seemed iffy about it but I think that we will be able to help him become more confident in his decision So I havent felt too much like a missionary because of our weird Schedule becuase of the holidays and stuff but now things are back to normal so we´ll be able to work a lot more this week and get back on the normal missionary schedule of work work work so that's good. My whole firtst week after the first day I was kind of getting discouraged and really homesick but it's getting better now. I´m sure it was just the culture shock and my lack of ability to do basically anything becuase of my not being able to communicate. I still feel pretty useless as a missionary right now since I can pretty much only just stand/sit there and nod and smile next to my companion but I´m more optimistic now and I know that I´ll get it eventually. I don't know how or when but I know that I will some way or another haha. Well that was basically my first week in a nutshell. Some things I want everyone to know before I finish though is that everyone can email me and then I can just snail mail back. I can email immediate and extended family back and snail mail everyone else. But I can receive emails from everyone. So there you have it. Well I think I had more to say but that's all I can remember right now. Just keep the prayers and the love coming because man do I need it hahaha. Well until next Monday, I love all you guys and even though I´m having a little bit of a hard time I'm still glad that I´m here. Cia Cia Con amor, Élder Harper J P.s. Coronado is better than ecco Brother Baker A note from Mom: I looked up what flaquito means and here it is: flaquito is a diminutive of "flaco" meaning tiny, people use it to call someone who is near to them and who they love who is too tiny (skinny). Also diecyocho is a huge holiday there. It is Chile's Independence Day.

RILEY HAS MADE IT TO CHILE

Riley flew out of Salt Lake City early Monday Morning and arrived in Concepcion, Chile Tuesday morning at 9:30. Well.... since I did not have a definite confirmation of his arrival, I had faith that he had. I waited for a confirmation email on Tuesday but it never came so I broke down this morning and emailed Hermana Swenson, the mission president's wife. This is how it went down:

Hola Hermana Swenson,

Just an anxious mother that wants to be assured her son, Elder Riley Harper, arrived safe and well yesterday morning in Chile.

Thanks,

Michelle Harper

Querida Hermana Harper,

I can assure you that all is well -- your son arrived safe and sound along with 9 other new missionaries...1 from Costa Rica, 2 from Chile, and the rest from the US. His trainer is Marcus DeLeon from Nampa, Idaho. Elder DeLeon is heading home in 6 weeks, and was a zone leader until this last transfer when President asked him to train. Their area is in Pitrufquen in the south of the mission. They live in a 4-missionary house with two zone leaders, so your son will be surrounded by outstanding missionaries.

Yesterday and today were clear blue sky and sun...spring is here.

Enjoy the ride. HS

To say the least, I am relieved and very happy to have some specific information. He is very south geographically in his mission and is therefore approximately 6 hours away from the mission office. This means it is probably going to take a little longer for him to receive letters and packages since they all go through the mission office. But that is ok, a missionary's mail is treasure and worth the wait. Just be patient with his responses.

I have Googled the town of Pitrufquén and it seems like it is a great little community. On the right hand column, under WHERE HE'S BEEN, you can click on Pitrufquén and it will take you to some photos to view. I am so glad he has arrived safely and I will post his first letter as soon as I get it. I am not sure when that will be, hopefully no longer than a week. : )

Michelle - Riley's Mom

A FEW LAST PHOTS FROM THE MTC

Riley at The MTC Map

Riley's District

Riley with Jeff Stapelton

Photo of Riley and Rudy Wright (his cousin going to India) at the MTC Map

I CAN’T WAIT TO GET OUT THERE AND SHOW THE LORD WHAT I’M WILLING TO GIVE

Here is Riley's last letter from the MTC. You can send Dear Elders to the MTC through Friday, 11:00 am of this week if you want him to receive before he leaves for Chile. Otherwise, please start sending Dear Elders to Chile Concepcion South Mission. They will be printed up and sent through the church's pouch service. It probably will take 2 to 3 weeks for him to receive, depending on where he is geographically in the mission since all mail and packages have to go through the mission office first. You can also just write and mail a letter the traditional way to the mission office in Chile for .98 US Postage. I have updated the addresses on the right. Here's Riley's letter.

Muchas Holas familia y amigos!

To start off yes I did get the overshoes and the Memorykick. That little gadget is something else, it is really cool and will come very much in handy these next 22 months. I will take good care of it :) And thank you very much for the video! It was great! Even though someone in my district did tell me that it was against the rules to receive videos from home :/ I don't see why it wouldn't be aloud but I will look more into it. I did very much enjoy it though so thank you very much!
Well everything here is going well except one thing... I'm as sick as a dog!!! There has been a bad bug going around my district for the last month or so but I thought I had dodged it cuz its petering out. But of course yesterday I started feeling it and today it hit me full force fever, aches, and all! :( Aren't I lucky. So during our "free" time to write letters I was advised to sleep instead and I want to get better so I took that advice. I still got a few letters done but for those out there who wrote me, if I'm slow to respond that's why, but don't worry I will respond :) And one more thing concerning mail, those of you who have written me from BYU, I just realized today that in the address the random number tacked on the end in the Dear Elders is an apartment number. I think I put it in in your letters but in a really random spot. So if you haven't received a response from me all my BYU buddies that's why. So just shoot me a letter or Dear Elder if you didn't get a response, or if you did, either way works :).

Well enough about that. Last Friday we got our flight plans! and our whole district is very stoked to leave in five days on the 14th. So anyways here is my itinerary. Our first flight takes off from Salt Lake Monday and 9:43 A.M. It then lands in LA and 10:37 a.m. where we have about a three hour layover :/. Our next flight takes off from LA at 1:20 p.m. and we arrive in Santiago at 5:25 a.m. We then have a two and a half hour layover in Santiago and we catch a flight to Concepción at 8:00 a.m. and finally we land in Concepción Chile at 9:10 a.m. Tuesday morning. Yep almost 24 hours of travel time. ugh.

But anyways I am very excited and very nervous to leave (mostly excited I think) and I cant wait to talk to you guys in the airport! I haven't really looked to much at the calling thingy you gave me but I'm sure that I'll be able to figure it out. I think that the best time to call will be during my 4 hour layover in LA. shoot me a Dear Elder though to let me know what the best time to call would be with that schedule I gave you.

Well besides being sick my spirits have not been dampened and I cant wait to get out there and show the Lord what I'm willing to give and what I'm willing to do in his service. Well I have an appointment in the Teaching Evaluation Center to teach the second lesson, the law of tithing, and share a personal scripture and experience in Spanish with Élder Vincent. And I´m about out of time on my email so I just wanna let you know that I love you all and if your sending me hard mail instead of dear elders start directing them to my Chile address instead of my MTC address now. Until next time chou chou. Oh and fam tell me how your first week of school went :)


con amor, Elder Harper

I KNOW IT'S THE SPIRIT AND TESTIMONY THAT CONVERTS PEOPLE

Hola mi familia y amigos!

Well as usual for starters I will answer the questions. No I have not gotten the over shoes yet which is weird, I hope they weren't lost. But I did get the package with the waterproof socks, and the sleeping bag, and the candy and the 8,000 pairs of other dress socks. Thank you very much the sleeping bag and seel socks look legit if I do say so myself. I will be very careful not to loose them, and thank you for the candy and the fudge Izzie it was very tasty. Well after eating two to three plates a meal, except for breakfast cuz breakfast is gross, I now weigh a whopping 140.9 pounds hahaha. I thought I would have gained a lot more than that seeing that I eat myself sick everyday but its all good.

Well I'm excited to get the hard drive thing. It sounds like it will be extremely useful. It's crazy that I only have a week and a half left. I was really stressing out alot about spanish before but after praying about it for weeks I finally recieved comfort in a really spiritual experience that I had on Monday. It was definitely the strongest I've felt the spirit here in the M.T.C. It would take way too long to explain it but I will say that even though I'm still struggling along with spanish, I know its the spirit and testimony that converts people. Not eloquent speech. And I do have a testimony. So even though I'm still worried I know that the Lord will help me and that I can still help people come unto Christ even though I can't communicate with them very well.

Anyways Elder Vincent and I get our first new district tonight that we have to orientate and explain what goes down here at the M.T.C we have like an hour with them tonight and an hour and a half with them tomorrow night. We have to do things like show them an example of a "perfect" residence room, a.k.a elder vincent and I need to transform our room into the perfect room hahaha. Then we have to demonstrate for them "perfect" examples of personal planning, companionship planning, and how to study. Yeah so thats alot of responsibility and our companionship is far from perfect but hopefully we'll do alright :) and then we have to take them on a tour and stuff and tell them all the rules. and their are alot of rules. So hopefully we wont corrupt this new district too much haha.
Well we should be getting our flight plans tomorrow so I'm really excited for that, the time really does fly here. Well I'm about out of time but we get to talk in a week and a half! take care everyone les amo mucho!

con mucho amor, Elder Harper :)

P.S. thank you everyone for all the goodies and treats I've been getting from you! If you havent gotten a thank you from me yet then you will soon

YEAHH!!!!! FINALLY SOME PHOTOS : )

I'M NOT GUNNA LIE, I WAS PRETTY SUCCESSFUL IN THE REFERRAL CENTER

MUCHAS HOLAS FAMILIA!!!!

Well this week was pretty dang crazy but I'll just start off by answering the questions. Yes I got the G's and the hymn book and the HLJ rings. Thank you very much! The whole district is jealous cuz your basically the coolest mother ever. I havent finished them yet but the cookies are good :) and if you could send up a new sturdy camera case that can be worn on a belt and some tan and grey gold toe socks that would be great. One brand of socks that i brought up all got holes in them and that was like three pairs. But the gold toe ones are good. And as of right now there is nothing that I need to send home.

Well the week started great last thursday (our week ends on wednesday) cuz I'm not gunna lie I was pretty successful in the Referal Center (RC). I got two people two except a Book of Mormon and a Missionary visit and one of those was a wrong number! They were trying to call Direct TV (which happens alot) but before she hung up on me I got her to listen to a message about eternal families and the atonement. She then mentioned that her husband was dying in the hospital so I bore my testimony of eternal families and the plan of Salvation, read to her a scripture from the Book of Mormon and then she excepted an invitation to be taught by the Missionaries and recieve the Book of Mormon! It felt so good doing real missionary work while here in the MTC.

Then on saturday and sunday I dont know why but I was kinda getting a little down and doubting my adequacy and during that the branch president called Elder Vincent and I into his office and asked us to be the new zone leaders! AHHH!!! I really didnt feel up to it at first but now I see it as a blessing because I'm trying even harder now to be a better person to set an example for the 50 or so missionaries in our zone. And starting now one of the new responsibilities of zone leaders is to conduct orientation so to speak for the new districts who enter our zone every wednesday and then we take them on a tour and give them another little speil on Thursday. This job was previously the branch presidencies but now we have to tell them all about the MTC and all the rules and stuff and the branch presidency doesnt even see them until thursday night. So thats alot of responsibility on our shoulders :/ I dont really feel like much of a leader or an example but I'm trying to work on it now. But all in all I'm glad the Lord has given me this opportunity to develop more charity, faith, and to force myself to be a better example and a harder worker. even though its a little daunting.

my favorite part of the week though was tuesday night cuz we finally got an apostle for the devotional. yeah (ps the keyboard just broke so i can no longer type exclamations or capital letters but there was supposed to be an exclamation back there) elder richard g. scott of the quorum of the twelve gave a very powerful talk. then halfway through his prepared talk he stopped. was silent for a good thirty seconds. and then totally started on a completely differen subject. we could really tell that he was prompted by the spirit and the rest of his talk was pure inspiration. he even gave us two apostolic blessings which he sealed in the name of our lord and savior jesus christ. he said that the blessings would only come to pass if we remained faithful, obedient, and sensitive to the spirit throughout our mission. but the spirit was so strong during the blessings it was an amazing experience. one of the blessings was the gift of tounges so even though im terrible at spanish right now i know that through my faith i will learn this language. ughh hahah. well im out of time, sorry for the long email. anywas les amo mucho y i will talk to you next week. take care.

elder harper :)

I GOT YELLED AT IN EBONICS

Hola familia y todos los otras personas quien leen esto!

Well for starters thank you thank you very much for the package! Yes I got and like the pants and all of the other goodies you sent me :) Thank you Abbie Izzie and Bay for the stuff you sent me too. I use the pedometer every day Baylor hahaha even though its kinda sad cuz we dont walk much here. Were sitting down studying most of the time. Anyways I didnt realize that school is already starting for the kids, you must be excited mom haha. Izzie starting middle school and Bay starting high school. Its gunna be a good year. You better look out for little freshman Bay at school Abbie. Yes Baylor I called you little :D
Anyways not too much has happened this week. It all went by kind of fast. Me and Rudy's meal times overlap a little bit so I see him every now and then in the cafeteria which is nice. One time he dropped and shattered a plate, the whole cafeteria always claps when that happens, hahaha it was great because its almost happened to me like three times. At least one person breaks something every meal time. Buy he he seems like hes enjoying it here. Ive also ran into Jason Mosley a few times and I talked to Kevin Kroll in the cafeteria yesterday! That was cool cuz I havent seen him in ages. And then Jeff got here today I think so I'll keep my eye out for him.

Well tonight I'm going to be teaching the 1st lesson in Spanish for the first time in the TRC (teaching resources center) to an "Investigator" Yeah I'm pretty dang nervous porque todavía mi español no es bueno. I mean I'm improving slowly but I´m not ready for tonight. So it will be an interesting experience. Oh and as of last Wednesday our teachers have been speaking to us almost always in spanish so thats been a head ache even though I know its beneficial. I just need to keep being patient with it.

Oh and dont worry mother I'm sending my sd card in the mail to you tomorrow so you should get it by monday at the latest. And no I have not gotten the overshoes just yet but I'm sure I will soon :) Last week my RC (telephone) experience wasnt so good. All I got were some wrong numbers and I got yelled at in ebonics a few times hahaha gotta love the southerners. But its all good, I try not to let stuff like that bother me too much.

I'm proud of you for getting going on the B.O.M. again mom keep goin with it and you'll find that when you start your study with a prayer your spirit will open your mind and heart to things that you would might not have noticed before. I'm in the book of Ether right now reading about faith in chapter twelve. Faith is definitely something I'm trying to work on right now and the words of Moroni in that chapter are very powerful and inspiring. By faith we can accomplish anything as the stories in the book of mormon show us time and time again. Oh by the way I absolutely love the scripture marker pen thing you gave me grandma and papa! Ive got an awesome color coding system down that I borrowed from another Elder and it's helped my studies alot. Well I'm about out of time but stay awesome everyone! chau!

siempre con amor y abrazos, Élder Harper :)

IT'S LIKE SPIRITUAL CANDY TO ME I LOVE IT SO MUCH!

Hola mi familia!

First of all yes the water proof socks sound great! dont worry I wont lose them, thanks for looking out for me :) And yeah the overshoes sound like they would come in handy too, it will be tough making room for all this stuff but I know they will all be sorely needed in the field so send the overshoes too. I think I'm fine with the sweaters I have but I'll let you know if I change my mind. Yes I did bring my oakley beanie but you can send another one.. along with some washable slacks hahah thanks. 

Unfortunately I was getting my haircut when Rudy arrived so I have not seen him yet but I will definitely be keeping my eye out for him cuz I'm really excited that he's here. It will be nice to talk to someone from home. And I got the photos, haven't opened them yet, but I'm excited so thank you. I havent gotten the package you sent with the wrights yet but I'm sure I will soon.
Wow its crazy to think that I've already been here for a month. The weeks really do fly by. A big part of that is because, besides Sundays, P-day and the Tuesday night devotional all the days kind of blend together cuz we are doing the same stuff. But it's still going good here. I still have a lot of growing to do before going into the field so I'm glad we still have 4 and a half or so weeks left.
Well on Thursday I discovered a new love for the referral center. I decided to start taking inbound calls instead of the usual outbound and it was great. I got two people to commit to accepting lessons from the Missionaries in their area :) It feels a little weird testifying and such over the phone but I had a spiritual experience doing it none the less.

Well from what I've heard from Abbie, Bay and Taylor youth conference sounds like it was a lot of fun and it sounded like you and Izzie had just as much fun at home. I bet Izzie loved all those daytrips. I'm glad to hear that everything is going well at home. Well, my spanish is still..uhmm... Well, I'm still working on it hahaha but I'm trying not to worry about that too much cuz I know the Lord will take care of me. Right now I'm just trying to build up as much teaching skills and Christ like attributes as I can. Right now I'm especially working on Charity. On loving my fellow missionaries and the people who I don't know yet in Chile because as Moroni says without charity we are nothing. And without charity, people won't want to hear what you have to say. Well thanks for all the love and support guys! keep sending it my way hahaha. Oh yeah and one more thing read the Book of Mormon as a family every night. Not even kidding you it's like spiritual candy to me I love it so much. Well until next week Adios!

abrazos y amor, Elder Harper

P-DAY ISN'T REALLY P-DAY HERE

A slow mail letter: Postmarked August 3rd, 2009

Dear Familia,

Dad, I got your letter after I finished the email so I’ll answer some questions now. Yeah, it was way trippy seeing Ben. It felt like he was an Alien from the forbidden outside world ha ha, but it was good seeing him. The surf sounds pretty fun. I laughed about Uncle Larry’s fights. The Grumpy Walruses that surf Doho are annoying.

That’s cool that Scotty is going to North Carolina. I’m glad he got his call! By the way, an Elder from my district is from High Point North Carolina if you know where that is.

P-day isn’t really P-day here We go to the temple in the morning (which is awesome) then we have 3 hours to write and do laundry. Then after that it goes back to a normal day. We do studying and stuff. Elder Vincent is from Provo. My other roommates, Elder Swenson y Elder Kamalu are great guys too. We have a good district.

There’s not too much time to iron but the shirts are working out ok. By the way, thank you for the package! I got the socks and candy but I just forgot to tell you in the email. Whoops! By the way, send one more pair of socks and at least 2 more pairs of compression shorts cuz we play soccer 5 days a week! I’m no good but it’s still fun.

Yeah, a few friends have written me so far. Thanks for asking, and we get our mail from the mailroom every night. Tell everybody about the Dear Elder thing! I’m glad you found it cuz it’s awesome! Well, I got to go but you’ll probably get this letter at around the same time as the email and I’ll talk more in the email. Adios!

abrazos, Elder Harper : )

PATIENCE IS DEFINITELY A CHIRSTLIKE ATTRIBUTE I AM WORKING ON RIGHT NOW

Hola mi familia!
Sorry I forgot to thank you for the care package in my last email. I sent a letter thanking you that you should get pretty soon but once again thank you :) I got the socks and the candy and the jerky which are all greatly appreciated. Oh and yes I found my white tie.

Thanks for all of the letters yesterday I think Dad is right it does sound like your going crazy on blog spots and email groups but me and all of my roomates appreciate the info on wats going on down there. Its really cool to hear about Elders who are already down there and how we can learn from their mistakes. I'm glad that your sending up the thermals and the sleeping bag cuz it sounds like they will be much needed in the winters there. I'm not sure how I'll fit the sleeping bag but I will find a way. And yes mom those measurements are right. One other thing that I could actually use is washable slacks. Apparently the list said to bring washable slacks but me being me didnt notice that so if you could send a pair that would be great.

Well thank you soo much for all the support back home. Its easy to get discouraged sometimes but reading your letters always lifts my spirits and makes me want to do the best that I possibly can. It's really easy me being me to beat myself up about needing to learn the language faster and to get discouraged about it. When I get frustrated with it I just try to remind myself to be patient and that it will take a while to learn it I just need to keep working hard. I just want to be able to teach lessons and talk in Spanish now!! haha so patience is definitely a Christ like attribute that I'm really working on right now. 

Well things are basically the same here at the MTC. After a while all of the days seem to kind of just blend together. Its crazy how fast its going by. I try to take advantage of every minute to learn as much as possible but we also laugh alot here. Our district is pretty funny and my teachers our awesome.
And dont worry mother you will be getting pictures soon. Your really only supposed to take pictures on P-day and on Sunday so there isnt that much time to but don't worry you'll be getting some good ones soon.

Well. Things sound pretty crazy down in concepcion from the letters I got from you yesterday but it doesnt phase me much. I can handle fleas and rain and cold showers as long as I can communicate effectively with the people haha.
Well I'm excited for Bay Abbie and Dad to go to Youth Conference. It sounds like its going to be alot of fun. I'm especially excited for Bay since its his first youth conference! I'm sure he will love it. And Box lacrosse sounds really intense but Baylor is tough I know he can handle it. Well I'm about out of time but keep the emails and letters comeing. Love you guys!


con amor y abrazos, Élder Harper